


Whither the Squick

by yourlibrarian



Series: Fanfic Genres [3]
Category: Fandom - Fandom, Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s06e15 The French Mistake, Fanfiction, Gen, Meta, Original Fiction, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 12:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6804730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While responding to a question of "Should more RPF 'cross the line' and be turned into publishable original fiction?"  this was also the week that SPN decided to turn in a mind-bender of an episode with an RP AU.  </p><p>To me there's automatically a difference between a story that purports to be about a living or deceased person and attempts to use as much evidence as possible to recreate them as they are/were, and stories that merely use the archetype of a person as a framework on which to develop a character.  Because if it's the latter, I suspect just about every piece of "original" fiction out there contains characters that are based on people the author knows, or knows of.  Writers are like magpies, constantly gathering bits and pieces from their lives to use in their writing, and other people are certainly part of that collection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whither the Squick

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted February 26, 2011

This is clearly the week to be discussing RP fic. Just as I was finishing the very enjoyable RPS AU [Restraint](http://archiveofourown.org/works/61002) by darkemeralds, a question was posted on [writingthewall](http://writingthewall.dreamwidth.org/10908.html) about RPF and original fiction, what distinguishes the two and "Should more RPF 'cross the line' and be turned into publishable original fiction?" And of course this was also the week that SPN decided to turn in a mind-bender of an episode with an RP AU. 

My answer was that the writingthewall question was a little ambiguous. To me there's automatically a difference between a story that purports to be about a living or deceased person and attempts to use as much evidence as possible to recreate them as they are/were, and stories that merely use the archetype of a person as a framework on which to develop a character. Because if it's the latter, I suspect just about every piece of "original" fiction out there contains characters that are based on people the author knows or knows of. Writers are like magpies, constantly gathering bits and pieces from their lives to use in their writing, and other people are certainly part of that collection. 

Given what I've seen, most RPF/RPS does the same thing as original fiction in that the framework of particular people are used to create characters for a story of the author's choosing. The main difference is that fan authors don't bother to erase the serial numbers but instead deliberately use various bits and clues because this is part of the fun of reading such stories. _It makes the readers complicit in the creation of the character by referencing commonly understood details._

By comparison, I've hardly ever seen any piece of fannish RPF that attempts to do the first type of real person writing. There is certainly some out there, I've read it, but it is rare. In part this is because, like any story research, it is time consuming and difficult to do and also tends to limit the story being told if you want it to be historically accurate. For anyone interested, [I wrote more about the topic before](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6804058), and plan a separate post to talk about the whole business of serial numbers in RP AUs.

But what I find striking about this current set of events is to see how different, and indeed limited, the discussion of RP fic is in media fandom circles compared to what it's like outside these boundaries. (I assume the discussion _must_ be different in RP centered fandoms, but I haven't been in one for a long time so I've no idea what it encompasses). As far as the general public is concerned, neither the media format, nor the distinction between fictional and real, nor even the idea of commercial vs. non-commercial seems to matter much in the definition of fanfic. For that matter, real people make appearances in fiction all the time, whether [they're celebrities or not](http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=133871975), and sometimes the celebrity is the only one who doesn't have the serial numbers filed off of them. Media fandom writers seem to be surprisingly inhibited on this issue for reasons which don't seem to connect to what's being done outside its boundaries.

For example, when I see discussions of fanfic in non-fandom forums, there are often references to how commercial fanfic exists everywhere. Someone is always bringing up Wicked, or Sherlock Holmes, or Wide Sargasso Sea, or the multi-author contributions to things like TV shows and comics series as examples of how much derivative writing goes on in various mediums and at various levels of quality. In other words, FP fanfic is constantly being shown as part of this continuum that exists in both amateur and professional writing, and as a common human impulse that has existed as long as storytelling.

I do not see this same conversation happening concerning RP fic. (I'm not saying it doesn't -- surely it must somewhere. I am saying it does not seem to be nearly as common). And yet we tell stories about real people all the time: it is an equally longstanding human impulse. Sometimes it's called gossip, sometimes it's called fanfic, sometimes it's called published fiction (or art), and sometimes it's called a fictional biography. 

And as SPN demonstrated this week, sometimes it's also called television. SPN is hardly the first show to feature real people as fictional characters. We can go back to the Monkees (who were themselves based on the Beatles' RP films), more recently when Jennifer Grey co-starred in a sitcom where she played herself, or even to the world of pseudosports when the Harlem Globetrotters had a Saturday morning cartoon based on themselves. And that's just to mention _entire properties_ based on real people, much less the numerous actors and other celebrities who are forever appearing in movies, TV shows, cartoons, and comic strips as themselves.

What's so special about fanfic then? I thought the SPN episode "The French Mistake" was interesting to look at because of how it could be contrasted with what the fandom does (and because I happen to know both the show and fandom). I think three questions need to be asked:

1) Who appears in the stories?  
2) Where are the silences?  
3) What kind of person gets depicted?

To begin with the first point, one rarely sees members of the actual crew appearing in SPN set fic. In fact, one of the first things that leaped out at me when I began reading RP fic in SPN was how "sloppy" it was in representing anything like the SPN set. Eric Kripke was forever appearing in the stories as someone on set. In fact, Kripke was hardly ever in Vancouver during his five years as show runner. I'm not sure how often Sera Gamble has ever been there either. But she, Kripke, and Bob Singer were often shown to be on hand. Singer was a bit more understandable since he actually was there directing a few times a year. And Kim Manners was in the Vancouver offices as the principal producer and became almost ubiquitous in such fics. Yet how many fanfics mentioned Cyrus Yahvne, who was the other producer who worked with Kim? Not one that I ever read. And Phil Sigriccia is only occasionally mentioned even though he had been on hand as long as Kim Manners and JA and JP talk about him regularly.

What's more, Kripke, Gamble, Singer and the episode's writer, Ben Edlund, tend to appear even in RPS AUs, where they have no need to be at all. Why them and not SPN's often lauded DP Serge Ladoceur?

The Edlund episode did just the opposite of fanfic, not only including Serge, Jim Michaels, Kripke, and Sera (in her actual presence, by speakerphone) but various other people who appear on set from interviewers to stunt coordinators. The episode focused largely on what happens _on the set_ , even though it was a version of "work" that is common on television, which is to say more discussed than seen. In fact, in Edlund's trial run for this episode, Hollywood Babylon, he worked actual people into the script when there was no textual connection to the SPN set at all. (Subtext though, yeah, that was totally an in-script for everyone on the production). Why does RP fic, by comparison, focus so little on what is such a huge part of the actors' lives?

Missing from Edlund's current episode was any whisper of JA and JP's families, with the exception of Genevieve who was a crossover figure from the FP world to the RP one and thus an in-joke by her mere presence. He went so far as to not include JP's dogs, who must be among the most fictionalized pair of animals ever seen in fanfic, nor JA's. By comparison, JA and JP's families sometime make an appearance in set fic but often make an appearance in AUs where they, again, do not need to be present. 

What Edlund does give us in The French Mistake is an alpaca, reference to otters, and fish in JA's trailer. Why? Well it goes to point #3: what kind of people are being depicted? In short, jerks. Unlike the famously friendly co-stars, whose very closeness prompted more RP fic than would ever have happened otherwise, these two actors supposedly disliked one another. They also, given Misha's tweeting, were apparently no friendlier to him. What's more they were shown to be much wealthier than they actually are. Undoubtedly JA and JP are quite well off, especially compared to the average American. But unless their trailers have been seriously upgraded since the early seasons (where they were seen in both photos and the S1 on-set documentary), their actual surroundings were exaggerated for effect. JP also does not live in such palatial surroundings, and certainly not in Vancouver. So a much more down-to-earth accessory such as shelter-rescued dogs would have a rather different effect than an alpaca ([Fun fact](http://www.alpacabreedersofwny.com/alpacas/investment.html#supply): "As of early 2004, the total population of registered alpacas in North America accounts for about 50,000 alpacas in the United States and about 15,000 in Canada").

I found this focus on money pretty interesting because, while it solved a minor plot point, there was no reason to put as much emphasis on it as it received unless it was being used for a larger purpose. (Remember Bob Singer's discussion with them where he asks if their crazy behavior was a strategy for getting a raise). An individual's salary is a very rarely discussed thing on TV. Some shows make a point of the lavish display of goods and the careless use of money, but very few actually confront the nitty gritty of how people attempt to make ends meet, or, heaven forbid, how they budget their income. You are a hundred times more likely to see a female character turn down buying a goodie because she's trying to watch her weight than because she can't afford it. (And in fact, even speaking openly of weight management is rare lest we offend food advertisers). So to make such a point of not only wealth but its acquisition seemed unusual for TV.

Money is spoken of more often in fic. SPN's FP fic tends to do a better job of representing Sam and Dean's likely existence on their income than the show does, but it's not often a focus in RP fic. I'd say that the representation there is often just as unrealistic as it was on The French Mistake, only biased towards a much more middle class and casual domestic existence than their likely one. (There's no way these guys ever eat that much pizza, for example, they just wouldn't be able to work it all off). Until this episode aired I have to confess it never struck me how odd it was that when two guys who are actual millionaires are the leads in a story, that their wealth is mostly left undiscussed. By comparison, in romance after romance the hero is often absurdly wealthy. It seemed to me there were two likely reasons for this: (1) Since they are both wealthy, and, presumably, roughly equivalent in their wealth, there's no aspirational angle there as often appears in the romances, or (2) Focusing on their money just makes them seem more distant as people since the typical reader is not in their financial class.

Certainly everything about the JP and JA in Edlund's script was meant to make us feel distant from them (even, I think, Genevieve's appearance in it). One of the biggest silences in the script was _what happened to the actual JA and JP from that verse_? Not once do Sam and Dean wonder about those actual guys or where they are. I half expected them to return to have a very interesting (or at least implied) conversation with Bobby about who had been in his house while they were gone. But no, it's never mentioned, even though I notice Jimmy's fate is pretty lousy in both universes. We're not meant to connect to them in any way.

Obviously in fanfic the intention is exactly the opposite. We are meant to connect very closely to the characters, and all the details either included or left out of a story are meant to bring us to that point. So unpleasant attributes, or any aspect of the characters that would make the story less likely or less relatable to the reader, are left out, and either existing or entirely new factors are focused on to make the connection work. 

And I think this is the factor upon which many in fandom's squeamishness turns, as well as why those outside it find fandom's hair splitting somewhat baffling. Especially among people who don't even read fiction (which is a growing segment of the public these days), the idea of wanting to feel more deeply connected to a fictional character seems incomprehensible. Yet that is essentially the purpose of most FP fic. I think it's easier for the average person-on-the-street to understand wanting to feel connected to an actual person. However distant celebrities are, they are at least one step closer to reality, and there's certainly no shortage of delusional people who seem to believe that they can one day date one or that their lives have a bearing on one another. The key difference that gets harped on is that no one can actually be harmed by FP fic (copyright discussions aside) whereas with RP fic, there are actual people somehow involved.

Yet where is the actual harm being caused? Certainly the average celebrity gets much more hurtful, damaging things said about them, sometimes directly to their face, than ever appears in fanfic which, on the whole, tends to depict them as much more likable, and possibly interesting, people than they actually are (and certainly far better endowed). As an example, I think JA and JPs wives tend to fare far better in fic than they do in a lot of fandom conversations. The fact is that these people work in an unpleasant and competitive business with a lot of unstable or unreasonable people, and I'm fairly sure what they face in any given day is much worse than any reaction fanfic could create. The joke Edlund inserts, about Misha's death having a silver lining, is only one of several pieces of humor in the episode that speaks to this reality.

In short, I think the fans' perception of a celebrity needing protection from his/her fans' imagination seems a projection of fans' own deep discomfort in seeing their desires out in the open for public consumption. The desire for connection exists in every fic. It also forms the basis of the fan communities in which the stories are produced and where those connections often do find realization in the form of connection to fellow fans. This may be more easily deniable in the case of FP fic, where such connections to the characters are clearly impossible and can be considered entirely harmless and in no way a sign of unrealistic expectations. 

I thought a quote from the Allison Pearson interview I linked to above encapsulated fanfic, and its connection to what we do in actual relationships, in a way I'd never heard it described. She speaks of her character's (and her own) days of teen idol worship: "You know, when she says to Bill, later on, when they're grownups: It was all fake. It didn't mean anything. It was just ridiculous. And he says: No, it was a wonderful love story, and you told it to yourself with all your heart, and you made it true. 

So we go on telling ourselves love stories with all our heart, and we can make them true."

I really don't think there's any need to be ashamed of the stories we tell, because clearly we love them a great deal.


End file.
